Scheming for greater things (part I of ??)

Maybe I am hitting my midlife crisis already. But lately I've been thinking a lot about what I do everyday, and what I plan to do with my life. I'm starting to realize that I am just working and working and working everyday, going to classes everyday, and not caring about anything.

When you are younger, your head is full of romantic ideas. That one day you'll be a great doctor, and will save thousands of lives; that one day you'll win the nobel prize, and even thought of how you'd compose the speech; that one day you'll be the leader of the free world, and lead your people out of poverty. I've thought about all those cool things. But honestly, we are but one little human being on this planet of 6.5 billion souls. How much impact can I possible leave in this world before the end?

The answer, I think, and I've given this a lot of thought, is just be a person with compassion for the well being of others. There are religious doctrines that say things like "If you do good, good things will happen to you", or enticing the mass with everlasting bliss in the afterlife. These doctrines are all useless. I believe that with every action that I take, if my motives are good, my heart is pure, and I sincerely want to help out that person, I am doing something good. You should not need to receive these accolades and acknowledgements of the amount of money you donated to a cause, or the amount of time you spent helping someone. You should not need these things to feel like helping someone.

You should help simply because in your heart, you want that person to be better off. You want the world to be better off. Do not be selfish and confine yourself to the narrow space that consists of the paycheck you take home every other week. Find a cause that you believe in (such as cancer prevention networks if you have lost loved ones to this disease), and give your time to that cause.

The idea that, you should help someone, or some cause, purely out of the passion coming from your heart, and not driven by an external influence, is very simple. But I think if you can attain that level of puremindedness, your life will become a lot more enlightened, and happier.

Because you know that for everyday that you are alive, you are making someone happy. Your heart will reach out and touch that person, and you will bring a smile to his/her face.